Index

Most people who develop bladder cancer are older adults — more than 90 percent of cases occur in people older than 55, and 50 percent of cases occur in people older than 73. Smoking is the greatest single risk factor for bladder cancer. Exposure to certain toxic chemicals and drugs also makes it more likely you'll develop bladder cancer.Whites are twice as likely to develop bladder cancer as blacks and Hispanics are. Asians have the lowest rates of the disease.Men are about four times as likely to get bladder cancer as women are.

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The bladder is a hollow, muscular organ that stores urine; it is located in the pelvis. The most common type of bladder cancer begins in cells lining the inside of the bladder and is called urothelial cell or transitional cell carcinoma (UCC or TCC).Bladder cancer typically begins in the lining of your bladder, the balloon-shaped organ in your pelvic area that stores urine. Some bladder cancer remains confined to the lining, while other cases may invade other areas.Bladder cancer spreads by extending into the nearby organs, including the prostate, uterus, vagina, ureters, and rectum. It can also spread to the pelvic lymph nodes or to other parts of the body, such as the liver, lungs and bones.

Cigarette smoking increases the risk of developing bladder cancer by a factor of nearly five, compared to non-smokers. As many as 50% of all bladder cancer in men and 30% in women may be attributable to cigarette smoke. This risk does show a gradual decline in people who quit smoking.

About one in four cases of bladder cancer can be attributed to workplace exposure to carcinogens. Arylamines are a group of chemicals most responsible. Dye workers, rubber workers, aluminum workers, leather workers, truck drivers, and pesticide applicators are at the highest risk, although arylamines have been reduced or eliminated in many workplaces.

The association between artificial sweeteners and bladder cancer has been studied and is weak or non-existent.

Gonorrhea, a common sexually transmitted infection, can double the risk of bladder cancer in men, researchers said recently.

Earlier studies had already suggested a link and scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts who monitored the health of 51,529 American men found 286 cases of bladder cancer in men who had had the infection.

"We observed a two-fold increase in bladder cancer risk among men with a history of gonorrhea," said Dr. Dominique Michaud, the lead author of the research reported in the British Journal of Cancer.

The link was stronger for invasive and advanced bladder cancer, which is more serious and difficult to treat, and among smokers.

Bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer worldwide. Smoking is a leading cause of the disease and accounts for 65 percent of cases in men and 30 percent in women, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.

"Gonorrhea is an infection that often recurs, causing local inflammation and symptoms such as incomplete emptying of the bladder. The inflammation itself or the associated symptoms could be contributing to the development of bladder cancer," Michaud said.

Professor John Toy, of the charity Cancer Research UK, said the findings strengthen the suspected linked between gonorrhea and bladder cancer in men.

"The next step is to confirm whether the increased risk could be caused directly by the gonorrhea infection or its symptoms," he said in a statement.